SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $29.00 to $39.00. The stock had previously closed at $29.50, but opened at $31.04. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. SM Energy shares last traded at $31.6860, with a volume of 646,685 shares changing hands.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SM Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of SM Energy from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.58.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in SM Energy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,257,360 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $118,267,000 after acquiring an additional 107,295 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,921,769 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $147,876,000 after purchasing an additional 30,951 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,585,624 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $114,503,000 after purchasing an additional 375,754 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,731,350 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $92,202,000 after purchasing an additional 524,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 205.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $53,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906,255 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.92. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.03.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.The business had revenue of $704.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $764.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.58%.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy firm engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company focuses on identifying and exploiting unconventional onshore basins, leveraging advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize resource recovery. SM Energy’s operations are supported by an integrated approach to reservoir management and strategic midstream partnerships, enabling efficient transportation and marketing of hydrocarbons.

The company’s core asset areas include prolific basins such as the Permian, Eagle Ford, and the Rocky Mountain region.